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Knit Along Day 3: The Heel Turn

I’m having such a nerdy blast hosting my first knit along. I hope you guys are having as much fun as I am! It’s interesting how much you reinforce your understanding of something when you’re actually explaining to another person (or people) how to do it. Knowledge is power! Even knitting knowledge. ;)

Brace yourself! Big foot sighting ahead…

So before you turn the heel, this is what you’re working with – a ribbed leg that’s several inches long, and a 2.5-3 inch heel flap. Now all of a sudden, since humans’ feet are perpendicular to their legs, you’ve got to start knitting in a totally different direction than you have been! Plus, half your sock is chilling up on the top of your foot, and the other half is down at the base of your heel. First time knitters, you’re probably thinking this is pretty weird about now, amirite?

Oh, and here’s the visual of how your in-progress sock is looking, since I do think it helps to see the sock come together on an actual foot.

Please forgive my pale, pale, vein-visible foot. And short toes. Can you tell I feel super awkward about showing my foot (instead of thirteen bazillion shots of my hands, lol) on the internet?

During the heel turn, the needles holding half of your socks’ stitches that hung out during knitting the heel flap will continue to hang out. You’re just going to be knitting off of the heel flap.

The day 3 pattern

Reminder: for all of the pattern sections of my Knit Along posts, I’ll include all of the previous days’ sections of the pattern for your reference.

Abbreviations

sl – slip
st – stitch
k – knit
p – purl
CO – cast on
RS – right side
WS – wrong side
k2tog – knit 2 sts together
ssk- sl 1 st as if to k, sl 1 st as if to p, k2tog
p2tog – purl 2 sts together
turn – turn your work over and work on the other side (even if you aren’t at the end of a row/round!)

CO 64 sts, join into a circle with DPNs and begin working a knit 1, purl 1 rib stitch all the way around. Continue working in k1 p1 until your sock is 7 inches from the cast on edge, or as long as you want the ankle to be on your leg.

Heel FlapDivide half of your stitches* onto 1 needle (or 2 if you like my method of starting on more to avoid stretching). Leave the other stitches on 1-2 needles, untouched.

row 1. (WS) {sl 1, p1} acrossrow 2. {sl 1 as if to p, k1} across

*If you’re working with 64 stitches, that means you’ll be working 32 sts.

For a heel turn starting with 16 sts, the heel turn is complete. There should be 18 sts on the needle now. If you’re working with more or less sts, your heel needle will have 2 more sts than you began the turn with.

**or whatever number is half of the stitches in your heel flap, a.k.a. 25% of the total number of stitches CO

Tips & Tricks for Turning the Heel

Since I truly believe it’s basically impossible to understand how to turn a sock heel for the first time based on a knitting pattern, here’s a step-by-step photo breakdown of what the heck is going on.

First up, you’re working on the right side of your work, and you’ll do a simple slip of one stitch as if to purl.

Other posts in this knit along series

The next Knit Along day is Tuesday, May 6 – it’ll be a knitting and a vocabulary lesson since we’ll be working on the GUSSET of the sock. I’ve always thought a gusset sounds like something out of a Victorian tale, but it’s not. More on that later!

If you get stuck on this week’s or any of the previous knit along steps, please don’t hesitate at all to holler in the comments, I’m more than happy to help! As always, you can tag pics or tweets with #handsoccupiedkal, you can embed the KAL badge with the code below, or join our Hands Occupied Knit Along Ravelry Group to connect with other folks making socks. Happy heel turning!

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a knitting, crochet and crafts designer. She first learned to knit at age 8 from a grandmother who saw in her a need for something to keep her busy. She's now a full time designer, video host, blogger & teacher. You can keep up with her designs and more by following handsoccupied on your favorite social network.

I have such a hard time picking up the stitches after turning the heel without getting a hole right before the instep stitches. Is there any trick to doing this or do you just have to deal with a hole there. I would love to see a tutorial on this part. Thanks

Sometimes we pick up the required number of stitches but still have a bit of a gap between the gusset and the instep stitches. If that’s the case for you, just pick up an extra stitch or two, then decrease it out in the next round. No one will know, and you’ll avoid having a huge gap in your sock.

Heidi, I wish I bump into your site much earlier!!
I have started my first sock project and got stuck at the heel turn. Caused me an hour and stilk no clue what the heck the pattern means! The whole turning without finishing all the sts was so so confusing, and the boon that i was following didn’t explain at all! :(

I was seriously about to put down my project until I found your site!! Thank you so so much!
Sally

The info is great I’m a first time sock knitter ,the heel in my pattern has terms I do not get,,it’s for a boomerang heel, the part I don’t get is wrap (1st wrong side facing) I under stand the rest just not Wrap it’s not in abbreviations I would be grateful for any help,also how long is the flap supposed to be , I am following a arnie@carlos pattern,

Does your pattern call for a wrap and turn? If so, there are a bunch of great tutorials on YouTube if you’d like me to recommend one. If you’re following a pattern, it should list a recommended heel flap length at some point, even if it’s as simple as, “Try the sock on and see how long to make the flap so it fits your foot.” Good luck!

I am assuming the k29,ssk,k1 is meant for N2 and part of N3? Because I only have 26 sts. on N2…. using 6 sts from N3 or 5 sts after the ssk

Next question is this puts 26 sts on the N2 and I now have been told I put the other 5 from N3 to another needle that I will call N2a that I’m working with

but above in the directions Row 1(WS) shows me only using 11 of the sts now of the 31 sts total between N2 & N2a? Not to mention the sts still on N3 Am I supposed to go back and forrth only using the 11 sts and each time I turn I pick up an additional sts from the N2 and then the N2a until I end up with the 26sts all on N2

The instructions you’ve outlined are for how to turn a heel on a toe down sock, not a toe up sock, which this blog post features. Have you tried looking for toe-up specific instructions? It sounds like you’re using a heel flap method, I wonder if this video tutorial may be helpful for you. It features instructions on toe up socks made with a heel flap & gusset.

Hi Heidi: I was finally able to grasp the directions to complete my first pair of socks. I am confused though because you stated that my directions listed were for a toe down sock…. what is that? I thought that when you cast on a small amount of stitches that was a toe up and a larger amount of stitches initially was a cuff down?

On to my next pattern….I started with the cuff by casting on 48 sts over 3 needles.
24 sts on N1
12 sts on N2
12 sts on N3
When I reached the desired length my next round was
N1 work pattern; with N2 and N3 knit.
Turn to work back and forth on the 24sts. on N2 &N3 only as follows:
Row 1 (WS) Purl
Row 2 (RS) Kfb, *k1,sl 1; rep from* across, end k1-25 sts.
Row 3 Purl
Row 4 *k1, sl 1; rep from * across, end k1.
Rep rows 3 and 4 until heel flap measures 2″, rep row 3 (purl row) once more.
NEXT RND With N1, k2tog, k23, pickup and k 12 sts along edge of heel flap; with N2, k24; with N3, pickup and k12 sts along edge of heel flap, then 12 sts from N1, PM for new beg of round-72sts., 24 sts on each dpn.
I am at that point working with N2&N3 needles only, I can not k on N1 at this point because I have the edge of the heel flap between the last stitch of N3 ane the first sts on N1. In this reference are the instructions using a 4th needle and calling it N1 until I complete the round?

I figured it out and have almost completed first sock of this pair. Thank you though!
I’ve also figured out if I get stuck on something …put it down, right a question to you and as I read it after I finished my question, ….I have the answer.

I am making Christmas stockings for my twin grandchildren just born and I have been using several patterns. The heel turn was very trying for me especially because the patterns I had called for less stitches and I couldn’t figure out how many stitches before turning. You explained it so well so that I can use any amount I like.
My sincerest thanks,
Beth

I have a question about turning the heel if I have more stitches than your pattern. I have 36 stitches on my heel flap needle so Row 1 of my heel turn will be;
Row 1. sl 1, k 16**, ssk, k1, turn

My question is….in the following rows can I follow your pattern directly or do I have to amend the number of stitches?
Eg. should row 2 be “sl 1, p3, p2tog, p1, turn” as per your example OR should it be “row 2. sl 1, p????, p2tog, p1, turn”? If it is to be different how do I work out the number of stitches I should be knitting/purling?

Instead of 16 sts in row 1, it should be whatever number is half of the stitches in your heel flap, a.k.a. 25% of the total number of stitches CO. If you cast on 36×2 sts (72 sts), that number should be 18. Then you can work your short rows beginning in row 2 as written. You’ll just need more than 14 rows to complete the heel turn since your socks are using more sts. Best of luck!

My co was 32 stitches so i have 16st for the heel to start with. I did the heel turn but now i only have 10st instead of 18.
Question is if i have 16st for the heel turn does the pattern fpr the heel turn change or is it the same? If not wha did i do wrong?

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Hi! I’m Heidi Gustad, and I’m a yarn crafts designer and blogger, partial to primary colors, vintage style and most needlecrafts. Along with two designer friends, I co-host The Very Serious Crafts Podcast. My first book is set to be released in the fall of 2020.